Board games cause violence too!

[Reed]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/cri...ef=videosearch

Originally Posted by CNN

A man is charged with assault after his neighbor claims he hit her during a game of monopoly.

Maybe Jack Thompson should add Monopoly to his holy crusade.

[Lorini]

I know of a woman in jail because she assaulted her boyfriend during a Monopoly game. And don't forget, board games don't cause violence, MONOPOLY causes violence, so DON'T PLAY IT!!

*Brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Monopoly hater

[Rock8man]

It's never come to violence, but I've had my share of fights with friends and cousins during monopoly. I think at the heart of it's design, it's an antagonistic game, since you're trying screw over other people. Let's take another game, like Ticket To Ride. TtR's design is less antagonistic because most of the time people are just focused on creating their own railroad routes. It has the potential to turn antagonistic, but most of the time it doesn't because the game is designed so that even if someone takes a railroad route you wanted, you usually aren't mad at them because they were just trying to complete their own route, so you just start planning to go around that route some other way. In fact, you can't really show your frustration, because then they'll know where you were planning to go. It's really quite brilliant.

[CLWheeljack]

Monopoly is a terrible, broken game.

[Lorini]

Monopoly is long, players get eliminated, refuse to make deals, try to manipulate the rules (particularly if they are playing with house rules), and a lot of other shenanigans that can cause problems. Some people I know who don't want to play boardgames cite Monopoly as a specific reason why. It's the only game that I've ever rated a 1 on a 1-10 scale (actually I'd rate it a 1 on a 1-100 scale too).

[Murbella]

Not totally surprising. When i used to play monopoly with friends or family, it would always get heated near the end. I'd agree with rock8man that the game is pretty much designed to be ultra competitive, especially when it comes to the prime properties (which is the reason he hit her if i remember right). A really fun game, but once everything is bought up and people start trying to swindle you out of properties to complete their groups, things start to get pretty furious. Definitely NOT a relaxing game.

Lorini: that stuff is what makes monopoly so realistic and fun. Now if i could only get a government bailout when i landed on a maxed out boardwalk...

[DeathMonkey]

Monopoly played correctly (with auctions and no free parking) is a much better game than how most people play it.

[Jørn Weines]

Monopoly is also a common gateway game to things like RISK. Parents: Don't let this happen to your children, buy Agricola today!

[azzl]

Funny, this never happens when we play Illuminopoly. One of my friends DID try to immanentize the eschaton once, but she was drunk.

[datter]

I once beat a man to death during a monopoly game. He was usin' mah thimble.

[Nathan Phoenix]

Originally Posted by DeathMonkey

Monopoly played correctly (with auctions and no free parking) is a much better game than how most people play it.

QFT

Monopoly is a great game if you, you know, play by the rules, and not hand out a ton of extra money in a game that has an economy that is designed to constrict.

[Rock8man]

What's free parking got to do with extra money? I thought it was just a slot you landed on that did nothing?

[CLWheeljack]

Originally Posted by Lokust

QFT

Monopoly is a great game if you, you know, play by the rules, and not hand out a ton of extra money in a game that has an economy that is designed to constrict.

But the core rules aren't fun for the vast majority of players. If people are constantly creating extra rules in an attempt to make your game fun, your game isn't much good.

Also, it's still not a great game, even when played correctly. Its endgame is completely broken.

[Jasper Phillips]

Originally Posted by DeathMonkey

Monopoly played correctly (with auctions and no free parking) is a much better game than how most people play it.

Hmmm, what do you think the odds are that the people posting here know the actual Monopoly rules, as opposed to crazy "Free Parking means Free Cash!" variants? Pretty good, I think. In particular, your implication that Lorini is confused by some lame house variant is amusingly off base.

While Monopoly is indeed worse if you add in broken house rules, it is still an abysmal game even when played by the rules. The only games I'd rate worse are the sort of content free children's "games" where you don't actually do anything.

[Eric P]

every week, purple pawn runs a gaming criminal round up which is often similar to this

http://www.purplepawn.com/2009/07/we...al-roundup-59/

TOP STORY: Rick Eddleman, the guy who embezzled over a million dollars from Decipher Games (and ruined the company) is sentenced to six years and five months in prison. He is ordered to pay back nearly a million dollars, but he only owns around $25,000 in assets. (source)
Edinburgh, Scotland: Man beats his mother to death and hands himself; the paper mentions that he is a BGG user. (source)
Pattaya City, Thailand: 8 charged with gambling with the dice game Hi Lo in a parking lot. All gambling is illegal in Thailand. (source) Also, parents are urged to check their children’s cell phones to see if they have downloaded any dice game applications, following a spate of addiction and gambling losses. (source)
Niagara Falls, NY: Robber takes board game (and other items) during a house break-in. (source)
Richmond, VA: Man became violent after getting drunk at a rummy game. (source)
Alexandria, LA: Card game loser hits another player and bites her on the cheek. (source)
Madison, WI: Man pulls knife and damages car door of someone who tells him he has a “big booty” at a dominoes game. (source)
Chicago, IL: Several people shot at a dice game by one of the losers. (source)
Fraser, MI: Man hits woman in head, breaking her glasses, because she won’t sell him Park Place and Boardwalk. (source)
Live Oak, FL: Men break into a home and rob a card game in progress. (source)
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[Lorini]

Originally Posted by Lokust

QFT

Monopoly is a great game if you, you know, play by the rules, and not hand out a ton of extra money in a game that has an economy that is designed to constrict.

You must not get out too often:) Monopoly is a roll and move game of the worst sort (you cannot control the dice in any way) and is a long game, and on top of the length, it eliminates players one-by-one. In this day and age, I'd bet that if you looked around, you'd find something that you thought was a lot better and would realize how dated and poor this game is.

Sure it's good for memories, but that's about it. Hopefully we who are raising children are raising them with much better games for memories.

[Jag]

Originally Posted by Lorini

Sure it's good for memories, but that's about it. Hopefully we who are raising children are raising them with much better games for memories.

This is the part where you start supplying monopoly alternative suggestions!

[Squee]

Oddly enough I liked the Lord of the Rings Monopoly variant rules. Gist of it is the ring moves forward any time anyone rolls doubles, and once it makes a complete lap around the board, the game ends. Makes the expensive properties more risky since it's less about grinding your opponents down over hours and hours and makes it faster to play and a bit more balanced.

Still can't say I play it often, but I liked it more than regular Monopoly just because you could actually play it in an evening easily.

[Lorini]

Originally Posted by Jag

This is the part where you start supplying monopoly alternative suggestions!

Settlers of Catan
Ticket to Ride
Carcassonne
Through the Desert
Agricola (for the people who want something a little more hard core)

All of these games are in print and likely to stay that way. I refer people to www.funagain.com for a great selection of family games. You may not want to buy them there because there are better discounts elsewhere (ask Tracy Baker where he buys his games) but they present the games well on that website.

[Reed]

Wow, I didn't know there was such hate (or really any hate) out there for Monopoly.

[kerzain]

Whats with all this "too" business? Game violence did not begin with video games, and it certainly won't end there. I've been getting enraged and flipping entire game tables over for years, video games only changed my actions from balling up my fist and smashing it down on top of the game board to breaking keyboards over my knee to standing up and pitching the Wii-Mote through plate glass windows and cats.

There's nothing new here. In a few years I expect there will be people in VR suits getting pissed off and shedding them like so much of a snake skin/incredible-hulk-mundane-attire before charging out of the room in a naked red-faced stomp before the welts begin to brighten.

[Murbella]

I don't see why people believe the endgame of monopoly is broken. It basically becomes Russian Roulette with everyone hoping they don't land on that full upgraded money trap. Nerve wracking.

[Jasper Phillips]

Ticket to Ride is the most straight forward and broadly appealing replacement for Monopoly. Settlers is decent too, although it's a bit too easy to be screwed by bad luck for my taste.

Some others, in no particular order:
Puerto Rico
Dominion
Agricola
Power Grid
Brass
Small World
Race for the Galaxy
Tigris and Euphrates
Caylus
Carcassonne

Some of those are a bit on the long end for new gamers, but then again, so is Monopoly.

[Jasper Phillips]

Originally Posted by Murbella

I don't see why people believe the endgame of monopoly is broken. It basically becomes Russian Roulette with everyone hoping they don't land on that full upgraded money trap. Nerve wracking.

Because you have no real decisions to make once you've traded and built, and yet the game still lingers on for a long time.

[Lorini]

Originally Posted by Reed

Wow, I didn't know there was such hate (or really any hate) out there for Monopoly.

A friend of mine is one of the reigning Monopoly champions. At Origins a few years ago after he won the National Championship, an interviewer asked him what he thought of Euro games. He knew nothing about Euro games at the time and said so. He effectively got cut to pieces on www.boardgamegeek.com because he thought Monopoly was the best game ever and his ignorance about Eurogames was lambasted (not by me because I didn't see the thread).

He now is a heavy Euro game player but he still thinks Monopoly is best.

[porousnapkin]

Originally Posted by Jag

This is the part where you start supplying monopoly alternative suggestions!

I want to throw out Modern Art as a suggestion real quick because its auctions make it feel close to Monopoly. It's also short, super simple (but also ridiculously complex), and gets lots of enjoyment with gamers and non-gamers.

[kerzain]

I enjoy Acquire much more than monopoly.

[Rock8man]

Originally Posted by kerzain

I enjoy Acquire much more than monopoly.

Sweet! A fellow Acquire fan in the house! I love that game so much.

[Creole Ned]

Originally Posted by Reed

Wow, I didn't know there was such hate (or really any hate) out there for Monopoly.

Same here. Looking back, I'm amazed I got through my childhood unscathed by this apparently monstrous creation. Or perhaps I am blocking memories of people flipping the game board and storming out of the dining room.

To be fair, though, we played lots of other games that were not as cutthroat. I remember Careers (ooh, Ecology!) and Life being popular alternatives.

[CLWheeljack]

Originally Posted by Jag

This is the part where you start supplying monopoly alternative suggestions!

There's been a handful of threads about this, including this one, which I mostly mention only because it's the last thread in which we discussed Monopoly's various merits (or lack thereof). But there's also a fair number of good board game suggestions for newbies in there.

The usual advice is to go to boardgamegeek.com and buy anything in their top 20.

Edit: I think this is the main one, there are others.